A Special Package
by Zero Starlight
Summary: A Multi-Part Fic where the readers decide the outcome! Based off of the inFamous karma system. Spanosa is just your everyday courier, trying to make ends meet. But one day, he gets a package that will change his world. For the better? Or for the worse?
1. Chapter 1: The Delivery

A Special Package By: Zero_Starlight

Chapter 1; The Delivery

The insistent beeping of my alarm clock roused me from my sleep, and I reached out an arm, slapping in the general direction of the unholy object. My hand found the off switch and shut the alarm off, and I rolled over, intent on returning to my dreams.

The other alarm clocks were nothing if not persistent.

I groaned and rummaged through the pile of dirty clothing, retrieving a boot, which I flung at the nearest clock.

As if in protest to the loss of their comrades, more alarms began to wale, demanding that I get up.

"Fine! I'm up already! SHUT UUUUUUUP!" I yelled back, sighing and rolling my eyes as the battalion was silenced. I was going to kill Zero for hiding all those clocks and having Twilight enchant them to all go off at once if I wasn't up when the main one started. Some birthday present...

I walked into the small kitchen of my apartment, grabbing the mug of coffee from the counter, taking a sip. Ice cold coffee, the best way to wake you right up. I poured the rest down the drain, rubbing the bridge of my nose. I checked the mail and my job list. Wonders of wonders, I only had one package to deliver today. I smiled at that. Looks like I would have the last laugh. The demon clocks could suck it.

The package was addressed to a Rainbow Dash, and I groaned as I realized that it was a Pegasi cloud home. I didn't have anything against cloud hopping, the routes were generally many times faster than running through the busy streets of town, but they also tended to be the most dangerous jobs, seeing as the pathways were always changing. I once very nearly became a pancake on the sidewalk during a delivery.

I suppose that's why I make the most though. Someone wanted their package ahead of time and in one piece, they called Spanosa Nightingale.

I laced up my black sneakers, specially enchanted so I could walk on the clouds, grabbed my pack and put on my jacket. It was freezing up as high as most Pegasi lived.

I stood on the roof of the apartment complex and looked for the nearest cloud that was heading in the direction of Dash's cloud home. Nodding, I ran and leapt off the side of the building, arms outstretched to grab on to the white puff of water molecules. I landed, rolling to soften the impact, already picking up speed, preparing to make the next leap.

I grabbed a side of one of the clouds that floated at a stand-still, gripping hard as momentum spun the cloud with me. I let go, letting out a yell of excitement as I flew towards another cloud.

A series of jumps and leaps later, I arrived at what could only be my destination. The place could have had a 'You Have Arrived' sign in neon letters with a big arrow pointing down and it wouldn't be more obvious. The place was somewhat extravagant, not surprising seeing as all Pegasi built their cloud homes by themselves.

It was massive, more of a mansion than home, and a waterfall, a honest to Celestia waterfall, cascaded in a literal rainbow of colors from one side. I walked up to the front door, knocking gently on the clouds that it was made up of. I rolled my eyes as I realized that I had just done the equivalent of tapping a pillow. I stepped back, breathing in the cool air, and yelled up to one of the windows.

"PACKAGE FOR A MISS RAINBOW DASH!"

I heard a muttering followed by the sound of cloud covers being moved around, and I heard a voice call back down to me.

"Hang on a sec, I'll be right there." My breath caught as a cyan Pegasus, who I assumed was Rainbow Dash, leaned out the window. She was absolutely beautiful, and I had seen more mares than I could count in my line of work. I even took a package to Celestia and Luna once. But this mare outshined even the Princesses by no small amount.

I realized I had been staring for a good minute, and Dash was looking back with a bored expression on her face. I mentally slapped my self, come on idiot, get it together!

"You Rainbow Dash?" I asked.

She yawned and nodded sleepily, "Yeah... who wants to know?"

"Spanosa Nightingale, Foot Courier, at your service." I said, giving a bow.

For a moment, Rainbow Dash just sat their, before her eyes widened and she made a fangirl scream.

"Ohmygosh, Ohmygosh, Ohmygosh! Are you here to deliver my VIP tickets for the Wonderbolts show?" She all but jumped out the window in excitement.

"I'm going to assume yes." I said, holding up the small envelope, waving it, and grinning as her eyes followed it like a bone being waved in front of a dog. I slipped it in my bag.

"Hang on a sec, I'll be right up." I called up, before taking a running leap and grabbing on to one of the cloud pillars.

It was only a few moments later that I reached the top, pulling myself up and into the house. Looking around at what I assumed was Rainbow's room, I noted the large amounts of Wonderbolt merchandise on shelves, a large poster of the current team hanging from a wall.

"Nice place you have. Could use some work for accessibility, but I doubt you have many Traceurs up here." I remarked, removing the package from my bag and handing it to Dash, who promptly tore the top off, dumping the contents on the bed.

Two shiny gold tickets fell out and onto the bed, a flame emblem embossed onto the paper.

Dash frowned, "That's weird, I only ordered one ticket." She noted, and I felt her gaze on the back of my head as I examined the autographed poster from earlier. I turned around to find a grin on her face.

"I know! Why don't you come with me? You managed to get up here, you shouldn't have any trouble getting yourself up to Cloudsdale!" She tossed me the ticket.

I looked down at it, reading the time, considering my options. I didn't have any packages to deliver, and I hadn't been on a date since... I shuddered at the memory, before turning back, stowing the ticket in my bag.

"Yeah, I think I can make that. Where do you want to meet? I'd assume that the gates will be swarmed. Of course, Pegasi don't need gates do they, hmm..." I shrugged, letting Dash figure it out.

"How about we head up now and I can show you around!" She said, a grin on her face.

"Alright, but I need to get back to my apartment and grab my stuff. You want to tag along?" I asked, quietly hoping she would.

"Might as well, seeing as we would need to meet up again at some point." She replied as she spread her wings and took off through the window.

I followed, leaping through and for a moment, it felt as if I was floating. Then the moment ended, and I began to fall. I didn't panic, calmly looking around, assessing my surroundings, searching for a soft cloud.

It took a little less than an hour to make my way back to my apartment and then up to Dash's cloud home, and another hour after that to find a way to Cloudsdale, the Pegasi's city in the sky. I looked around, taking the sights in. It was warm up here, despite the fact that we were above the peaks of most mountains, the sun's rays reaching my skin more easily than down on the level of Dash's home.

"You want to check this place out or are you just gonna gawk until the show?" Rainbow asked, floated upside down in front of my face. I resisted the urge to laugh, and simply nodded.

"Alright, lead the way, Miss." I said. She frowned at this, and hit my head lightly with one of her hooves. I grunted in pain.

"What was that for?" I asked.

"If your going to a Wonderbolts performance with me, I can't have you calling me miss all the time. Call me Rainbow or Dash, that's what my friends do." She replied.

I shrugged, nodded, and we set off for the cloud factory.

The Cloud Factory was absolutely gigantic, although seeing as it made all the clouds, storms, snow, etcetera, etcetera, I wasn't surprised at that.

No, what I was surprised at was the effort that went in to making each cloud. Dash even showed me where they stockpiled the snowflakes for winter. Thousands upon hundreds of storage containers held billions of snowflakes, each different and special in their own way.

Dash was still giving me the tour of the place when another Pegasi, looking quite peeved, flew past, shouldering Dash hard enough to send her flying into one of the nearby cloud pillars.

"Dash!" I cried out, and for a moment time seemed to slow to a crawl, while my thoughts raced faster. The pegasus responsible was still within my reach, and I could go for him, teach him to watch where he was going, or I could make sure Dash was OK, let the idiot get away. It didn't take a genius to figure out what I was going to do...

KARMA MOMENT...  
>What is Spanosa going to do? Will he go after the Pegasus, or will he go to Dash? The next chapter will be released next week!<p>

TUNE IN NEXT TIME! 


	2. Chapter 2: All You Can Eat

Note; Spanosa is Human, the same as all my OCs

Chapter 2: All You Can Eat

KARMATIC ABILITY UNLOCKED; HEIGHTENED SENSE (Tier 1)  
>Heightened Sense gives Spanosa a better sense of his surroundings, allowing him to move more quickly by taking advantage of his environment.<p>

I let the idiot go, running over to the pillar Dash had crashed into. I knelt down next to her, shaking her gently.

"Dash? Dash! Get up!"

I heard her groan and she pulled away, mumbling, "Give me five more minutes Mom..."

I rolled my eyes, thinking back to the alarm clocks from earlier today. I guess Dash and I were more alike than I had first guessed.

"Come on Dash, get up. I need to check for a concussion. So don't fall asleep on me here." I replied as I ran my fingers through her mane, checking the soft skin beneath for discoloration, giving a sigh of relief when I found none. Dash nuzzled closer to my hand sleepily, and I blushed slightly.

"So, where next?" I asked, torn between pulling my hand back or letting the mare just hold it close.

She murmured again and opened her eyes, blinking. She yawned, before noticing my hand. She blushed a deep red and pulled away. "Oh! Uh... next on the tour is, uh..."

"You have no idea where we're gonna go next, do you." I asked.

Her stomach grumbled, and she shot me a look. "Of course I know! I was going to show you this awesome buffet nearby!" She puffed her chest out, obviously proud of her on the spot improvisation.

"The food here is good." I said, swallowing the bite of my sandwich as Dash continued to eat her hay-fries.

"Best buffet this side of Ponyville." Dash said in response, smiling. I smiled back, her mood was infectious.

"So... you're a big fan of the Wonderbolts?" I asked tentatively. She looked up and I noted the excitement that had lit up in her deep purple eyes.

"Heck yeah! I have to know everything about my future flight partners!" She said.

I raised my eyebrows, "You're shooting pretty high there. 'Course, as my old mentor used to say, Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll still end up somewhere in the stars.'" I laughed, "The old man was full of sayings like that."

It was Dash's turn to raise her own eyebrows, "Oh yeah? Like what?"

I leaned back in my seat, thinking back to my years in training to become a courier under my master Wind Walker. "Hmm... Oh yeah! There was this one time he tried to teach me how to increase my balance on unstable surfaces."

"Sounds kinda silly to me." Dash replied.

I laughed, "Oh, but that wasn't even the half of it! I remember this one time he took me out in this little rickety wooden boat, paddled it out to the middle of a lake and made stand up in it. He started rocking the boat back and forth and I kept my balance. I asked him if we could do some work on my self defense training and he took a swipe at my legs with the paddle." I made a sweeping motion to punctuate my sentence. "I jumped out of the way, and out of the boat too!" I lowered my voice, making it sound old and grouchy.

"You want know how to block, then you must know how to walk, and before you know how walk, you must learn to swim!" I said, before laughing. For a moment Dash just sat there, then burst into laughter as well.

I looked around the large stadium, unable to completely comprehend the grandeur of the place. It was, pun not intended, an open air stadium, the gaps between pillars open to the sky around it, blocked occasionally by the occasional row of cloud seats. The pillars themselves supported a ring that ran around the entire place, and most of the stadium floor was a gaping hole.

"So where are we sitting?" I asked, as I spun in a circle, attempting to take the entire area in at once.

"Over there," Dash responded, pointing with a hoof over to a high up platform. "Watch your step by the way. The Pegasi weather teams keep the sky below the stadium completely free of clouds, so if you fall..." She trailed off, not needing to elaborate any farther.

"Good to know." I replied, taking a few paces back for good measure. "How do we get-" I began to question, just as Dash flared her wings and flew up and over the hole to land in the V.I.P seats. "Oh yeah... wings..." Looking around quickly, I began to climb the clouds to Rainbow's seat.

By the time I reached the VIP seating, Pegasi were beginning to flood into the stadium, taking their seats. The shouts of venders selling hay-fries, drinks and popcorn filled the air as I pulled myself into the box.

Rainbow smirked in what I felt was a somewhat evil manner, and I punched her shoulder lightly as I dragged myself into the plush cloud seat. Thank the Goddesses that these were VIP seats. I had gone to a cloudball game with Wind Walker years ago, but the old hermit hadn't been able to buy very good tickets. I didn't know how they did it, but the Pegasi had somehow made the clouds uncomfortable to sit on. I didn't think about those kind of questions much as they made my head hurt.

"Took you long enough to get up here." Rainbow teased, poking my arm playfully.

"Sorry, the elevator was out of service." I replied, my voice dripping sarcasm. "I'll take the escalator next time."

Dash tensed up and I noticed her face turn from blue to pink, before she turned away, hiding her face.

"Uh... you OK? Dash?" She was silent for a moment, before turning to me, her face back to blue.

"Of course I'm OK! I'm always OK, I'm the queen of OK." She replied quickly.

"Alright. Um... you want me to go get you a bag of popcorn or something? I've got some cash on me..." I was hoping to avoid embarrassing Dash too much.

"Yeah, I'll have some popcorn, if that's cool with you. And Span?" I stopped, turning back to look at her. She ducked behind her mane and I had to strain to hear her words.

"T-thanks for staying with me earlier..." I smiled at this.

"No problem Dash."

The show was amazing, and Dash seemed to become energized by the excitement of the show. There were many moments where she would grab me by the arm and point in a generalized direction wildly as she exclaimed, "Oh my gosh!" Or "DID YOU SEE THAT? THAT WAS SO AWESOME!"

And indeed it was. The Wonderbolts lived up to their name and claims. The tickets Dash had ordered let us backstage where we had a chance to meet the Wonderbolts.

I was pleasantly surprised that the snobbish arrogance or self-adoration I had half expected to be radiating off of them was in total absence during out meeting, and I watched as Dash excitedly spoke with Spitfire, or to be more specific, she spoke, and Spitfire attempted to keep up.

When we had to finally say our good-byes, I had to literally pry Dash off of the team members.

As we walked down the street towards the nearest exit from Cloudsdale, Dash spoke up, her voice quiet.

"Um... Span?" She murmured.

I looked at the mare beside me. "Yeah?"

"I just wanted to say... well... I had a good time today and I wanted to thank you for coming along." She said, blushing.

I smiled. "No problem, Rainbow. I enjoyed it too. I haven't been on a da- I mean, I haven't been out and about with a friend for a long time." I said, hoping she wouldn't notice the slip up.

"You hungry?" She asked, apparently not noticing the slip.

"Yeah." I replied. "Where to?"

"How about that buffet again? They serve dinner there." I nodded and we continued on.

As we ate our meal, Dash told me about all the new tricks she wanted to try out after seeing the stunts performed during the show.

The bell at the front of the shop tinkled as another pony entered. He had a grey coat, black mane and a hoof holding a gold coin for a cutie mark. His saddle bags hung loosely from his back as he made his way quickly up to the counter and spoke with the cashier.

suddenly, he pulled a heavy pipe from his saddle bags, bringing it down heavily on the mare at the counter. She cried out and sank to the ground, unconscious. The stallion turned to the rest of the now starring crowd and yelled.

"Alright people, this is a robbery! Any and all jewelry or bits you have, place them in this bag." He growled.

I ducked under the table, pulling Dash with me. She looked at me. "What are you doing?" She asked.

I looked at Dash for a second more before answering...

KARMA MOMENT!  
>What will Spanosa do? He can either tell Dash to stay put while he goes after the robber, or he can have her back him up. What will he choose? YOU DECIDE!<p>

Write a review and vote for his next move! The votes will be tallied on the weekend and the next chapter will be released the following week.

TUNE IN NEXT TIME! 


	3. Chapter 3: Going It Alone

Chapter 3; Going it alone...

GOOD KARMA ABILITY UNLOCKED!  
>HAND TO HOOF COMBAT; Hand to Hoof Combat allows Spanosa a better advantage in a fight. He is able to dodge and attack more effectively, using non-lethal methods.<p>

GOOD KARMA RANK UP!  
>RANK IS NOW; SAINT<p>

DISARM AND DESTROY; When Spanosa disarms an opponent, he can now render the weapon useless. This is a useful technique to prevent an enemy from grabbing dropped items.

"Stay here and stay quite. I don't want your blood on my hands." I peeked out from under the booth, crouch-walking out from beneath it.

I slowly made my way around the back counter, keeping low. I checked the mare who was at the cash register, and sighed quietly upon finding her still breathing. I looked around under the counter, finding a small red button labeled, quite helpfully, "PANIC". I pressed it, hoping that the thief was alone and hadn't thought to cut the phone lines to this place.

Keeping low, I peeked around the corner. Lucky for me, the stallion was busy holding the bag of loot in his mouth. I snuck up behind him, tapped him on the shoulder.

"Excuse me, but did your mother never teach you that stealing is bad?" He turned around, preparing to either retort or hit me upside the head, I would never know.

I grabbed his head, smashing it into a nearby wall.

"Nighty-night..." I said, grinning, before looking up to see more thieves approaching, various blunt or sharp objects floating around them.

"Well... that's a bit more than one guy..." I shrugged. "I don't suppose you guys and gals would be so kind as to drop your weapons and lay down?"

A red unicorn stallion galloped towards me, a heavy lead pipe held above his head.

"Hard way it is then." I stepped out of the way as he took a swing at me, the pipe howling through the air. I stepped back in and grabbed his hoof, giving it a quick, but hard, twist. The bone within gave a snap and he fell to the ground, screaming. The magic floating the pipe fell, disappearing through the clouds that made up the diner floor.

"Anyone want to give up yet?" I asked.

Turns out that some thieves just don't know when to quiet.

"Thank you so much, sir. If you hadn't stepped in there..." The owner was still shaking slightly as he shook my hand.

"No problem, and please, I'm a foot courier, call me Spanosa." I replied, smiling.

"I've taken the liberty of negating your chequ , it's the least I can do." The manager smiled as he walked over to the police Pegasi to give his statement. I turned back to Dash.

"You OK?" I asked, smiling.

She blushed and chuckled a little, "Yeah, you were the one doing all the fighting dude! I should be the one asking you!"

I shook my head. "I'm fine Dash. If you were hurt... I don't know what I would do." I felt a light blush coloring my own face. "Anyway, I've gotta get back to my place, and it isn't getting any brighter outside. I'd rather not become a pancake on the ground because I missed my jump."

Dash gasped and grabbed my hand with her hoof. "Come with me! We can use one of the clouds, it'll be easy!" She grinned.

"Well, if your sure it's OK..." I said, blushing more at the feel of Dash's soft hoof in my hand.

"Of course it's OK! I'm the bearer of the element of loyalty, I can't just let my friend go home in the dark like this!"

For the second time today, I found myself sitting on a cloud. I marveled at it, the thing was made up of water droplets but it was holding my weight like it was made of brick. Looking up, I could see through the cloud cover, and I smiled at the sight of the full moon and the stars that surrounded it.

"Beautiful..." I murmured, tracing the lines of the constellations with my eyes. I felt Rainbow shift around beside me and I turned my head to look at her.

I found Dash staring at me, eyes half-lidded and a small, happy smile on her muzzle, leaning towards me slowly. I blinked, once, twice, thrice, my brain struggling to process and analyze what was occurring.

Without a word, Dash placed her lips on mine, and my higher brain processes ceased to function. For a moment, I tried to think of why I should pull away, the next, I was attempting to remember what I had been thinking.

Dash pulled away first, turning her head away slightly and tapping the tips of her hooves together nervously. "Um... Uh... S-sorry..." She stuttered, blushing deeply.

I blinked, my mind slowly processing what had happened. Rainbow Dash, the mare I had only known for a day... had kissed me. I repeated the thought in my head a few times, trying to wrap my brain around the statement.

"It's... OK, Dash." I replied, picking my words carefully. "I have to ask though... why?"

Dash turned to me with a look of confusion, which quickly morphed into a look of disbelief. "Why not? You stayed and helped me when I got hurt, you took on all those ponies at the bar..."

I held up a hand. "Not what I meant exactly... What I meant to ask was, what did that mean? Was it a one time thing or something?"

Dash shook her head violently. "No! I... I like you Span... I really like you..."

We sat on the cloud quietly for the rest of the trip, trying to think of what we would say to each other when we reached my home.

The trip home took slightly longer than originally anticipated, the... incident... sending us off track.

I unlocked the door to my apartment with my keys and a firm shove of my shoulder. A few years back I had been holding a important package for a client, and my door had been blown off it's hinges.

I flicked on the lights and grabbed a bottle of water.

"You want one?" I asked Dash.

"Water is fine, thanks." She replied, looking around my place. When we had come earlier she had waited outside. "Nice apartment." She spoke up, attempting to make light conversation.

I sighed, rubbing the bridge of my nose. When someone starts completing your interior decoration skills, you know they're grasping for straws. "Thanks."

I turned, tossing a bottle of water over to Dash. I stared at her as she opened the bottle and downed most of it in one gulp. I let out a breath through my nostrils. Dash looked at me.

"What?" She asked, annoyance in her tone.

"Nothing, I'm just trying to wrap my head around the fact that someone like you could... want to be around me." I rubbed the bridge of my nose again. I really wanted a smoke right now.

"Your just so... awesome!" Dash said, blushing. "Your nice, athletic, kinda... cute..." She lowered her head and blushed a deeper shade of red.

I stared, trying to sort through my emotions, something I hadn't had to do since... ugh, why do I have to keep reminding myself of that...

"Look Dash. Your a great girl... and, I'm open to trying this... but, in my line of work? I've met some shady characters, quite a few of which have vowed to hunt me down and kill me." Her eyes grew wide. "What? Did you think I learned how to fight like that just for the kicks?" I paused.

"I'm sorry, that was a terrible and unintentional pun. The point is, if you and I are going to be an item as it were, your going to have to accept the dangers that are package and parcel." I paused again.

"I'm on a roll with bad puns tonight." I shook my head.

"Either way Dash, you need to consider this. What do you value more, your life? Or dating some street courier you hardly know." I looked her straight in the eye.

Dash stared at me from a moment, then laughed. She shook her head and came closer, planting her lips on mine again for a few short seconds. A mischievous smirk grew on her features and she laughed.

"I'm Rainbow Dash, I'm not afraid of any two bit thugs." She rubbed against me, "Specially not when I have my boyfriend to protect me..."

I stared at her for a full minute, flipping over her statement in my mind, attempting to sort out my thougts. "So... does that mean... we're... dating?"

"Basically, yeah." Dash replied.

I laughed, feeling as though a weight had been lifted from my shoulders. "What have I gotten myself into?" I asked, pulling her close.

I was lucky, that much was for certain. I had a beautiful mare for a girlfriend, someone I could trust, a rare commodity in my business.

And it was all thanks to one special package.

-  
>END -<p>

Author's Note; So yeah, I didn't really like how I ended the previous iteration of this chapter, so I re-wrote it. This is the end for now, but perhaps one day I will do a sequel. I've got another fic just about finished, I just need to add the ending. It's not pony related, sorry, but I need to branch out sometimes people! Until then, Zero out! BOOP! 


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